The Humanity of Karma
by CuriousLittleBird
Summary: The Orichalcos lured Weevil and Rex with the promise of final victory over their respective enemies. Instead, their souls were taken to be used as nourishment for the Great Leviathan. In the strange holding zone, much previously unheard emotion comes out.


_Author's Note: This fiction takes place during the Doom Organization/Waking the Dragons arc, after Weevil and Rex have been recruited by Dartz and are defeated by Joey and Yami Yugi in their separate duels. I wrote the prototype of this fiction very shortly after seeing those episodes, but was very unsatisfied with its condition and let it languish in my fanfiction folder for awhile. After some months had passed, I got the urge to dig it out and work on it again; I still don't know if it's any good, or if I've made Weevil and Rex OOC by being too "smart." I just thought it was time to show them as not just flat minor characters, but characters with the potential for deep and cutting emotion._

**Rex vs. Joey beside the train tracks**

Rex stared down Joey's Swordmaster, trying not to show the fear he felt. None of his monsters were left…he was officially finished. And yet, his mind still concocted ways, however impossible they seemed, to slither out of the mess Joey had made of his strategy.

Like the death struggle of a doomed animal, Rex mentally writhed in pain—he knew Joey would not be merciful, not after his own shouted, cocksure predictions that he would win. He had been so proud, so sure that the Seal of Orichalcos would fix Joey for good and he could finally win himself a duel. But as he numbly watched Gearfried the Swordmaster prepare to slice through his Life Points, a green haze came down over his vision…and he knew what that green haze meant. Panic flash-flooded his bloodstream, and he cried out in terror.

"Joey! Please, don't do it!"

"I've gotta," Joey replied resolutely. The decision had already been made—his determination showed in his honey-brown eyes. "But don't worry---when I save Yugi, I'll save you, too," he added. A brief flash of regret lingered in his eyes for a second, and then he commanded his monster to attack. The holographic sword blade looked as if it ripped through Rex's body, but the pain he felt was not of the flesh at all. A column of green light surrounded him, and he stared up into the stirring, wrathful sky; a terrified scream tore itself from his lips as the light drew him up into that swirling darkness.

**Weevil vs. Yami Yugi on the train**

Yami stared at his cruel opponent, gritting his teeth, the righteous anger flaring in the crimson depths. "I warned you that you'd pay for that little trick," he growled out. Fear began to bubble in Weevil's blood—what was he going to do?

"I play Berserker Soul!" the pharaoh cried, lifting said card above his head so Weevil could see it. "This allows me to draw until I have a magic or trap card. However, if the card I draw is a monster card, I can attack with a monster of 1500 attack points or less!" Weevil's eyes flickered in panic to Yami's Breaker the Magical Warrior, realizing Yami's apparent plan a few turns too late.

The first card was apparently a monster; Breaker slashed at the Bug duelist's chest, knocking him backwards. Faintly, Weevil wondered how a holographic monster could hurt so much. Yami drew his second, third, and fourth monsters, and the accompanying slashes tore not into the body, but into the heart and soul. No one would ever have believed Weevil even possessed a heart, but it felt as if something vital to his spirit was being ripped apart, destroyed, and utterly drained.

As the Seal of Orichalcos' murderous emerald light surrounded Weevil, he vaguely felt the eighth and ninth blows on his body. Yami had won the duel, but it seemed that the sweet cloying taste of vengeance had consumed him; he was still commanding attacks, over and over. Looking down at the earth as he flew up into the thundering sky, Weevil watched Tea stop Yami from attacking his lifeless body anymore.

**A few minutes later…**

"Oh, great, you're here, too."

The tired voice sounded familiar, even before I had opened my eyes. "Rex?" I asked.

"Yeah, it's me," he said, and I opened my eyes and sat up, rather stiffly and painfully. Rex sat cross-legged on the floor beside me, and as I took off my glasses to clean them and put them back on, he looked at me sadly. "I see you lost to the pharaoh."

Instinctively, I returned his comment with a sharp glance. "And I see you lost to Joey."

My longtime friend rolled his eyes. "Don't even start that, Weevil." His shoulders sagged, and his lavender bangs fell over his eyes as he cast his gaze downward. "I don't need to be reminded any more than you do."

The strange soreness in my chest as I breathed was searing, and I touched the sorest place gingerly; the fingertips that touched my ripped shirt drew back dripping with my blood, and I yelped at the sight.

"What did that old coot of a pharaoh do to me?" I whispered fearfully, looking at my hand.

"We're spirits now, Weevil," Rex said quietly. "When we got attacked…I guess it attacked our souls, and so now we see the wounds." He showed me his own shirt, which bore a bright red slash diagonally across it, as an example.

His dark eyes flickered over me, taking in the severity of my injuries, and he shuddered in sympathy. "Looks like you got the worst of it, though." He reached out and pointed to my shirt—I looked down and saw the nine deep slashes, all dark red streaks on my ripped shirt. But how could it be blood if I was only a spirit? Perhaps it was a symbol of how much I had been wounded spiritually.

"I take it the pharaoh got pissed?" Rex finally kidded, managing a mirthless laugh. I snickered a bit at Rex's wry humor, but had to stop because it hurt too much to laugh.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that…" I trailed off, and my sight blurred a bit with the sudden emotion that swelled in me. "Well, here we are, Rex…losers again." I wiped my eyes quickly with my shirt sleeve. "And here I thought the Seal of Orichalcos would fix everything."

"Me too," Rex said quietly. "Dammit, I never thought Joey would beat me again—I had all the best cards, the awesome strategy..."

"And we had the Seal," I finished. "I thought that it would win it for us. Dartz acted like it would win it whether we tried or not."

Rex scoffed. "Fuck that—I knew we'd have to battle our best, but…" He looked away suddenly. "I did battle my best…and…and it wasn't enough." A sudden loud sniffle interrupted him, and I looked over, surprised---I had never seen Rex cry before, not even when we were both humiliated at Duelist Kingdom and in Battle City. But his shoulders quivered, and perfectly round little drops landed on the thighs of his jeans as he buried his face in his hands. My own eyes were flooding by this time, and my memory cruelly flashed up images of our past failures like a never-ending slideshow in my mind. I could feel the tears escaping my eyes even as I struggled to force them back.

"Oh, God, Weevil," I heard Rex say quietly, his voice choked. "I tried so hard to succeed this time…I fought so hard…and it just ended up the same anyway…" He hiccupped slightly, interrupting himself. "I fought so hard so that I wouldn't make the same mistake again, so that Joey wouldn't defeat me…and it still happened anyway. I…I still lost!" His last words rose into a wail of outrage, and turning to me, he collapsed in my arms as we knelt together.

"I know…" I heard myself say, my voice sounding strangled by emotion. "I did, too…" It was true, all true, and Rex's words reverberated in my mind as I also collapsed under the weight of the moment. Tears, so hot that they felt like drops of blood, slid down my cheeks, and my sobs were born both of spiritual pain and mental sorrow.

The spirits trapped by the Orichalcos' power watched from their frozen positions as the once-great Rex Raptor and Weevil Underwood cried, both unable to speak or do anything except try to support each other.

"Whoa…" one of the younger spirits said in wonderment. "Who would have thought they'd ever cry?"

"They're crying? Good," another one replied bitterly. "Now they know what it feels like."

"Damn right," someone else chimed in. "They deserve it." Most of the souls present started to laugh mockingly, but one in particular made his exit just about then, heading toward the place where Weevil and Rex wept in utter solitude.

"Hey…Weevil? Rex?" A soft tenor voice awakened us both from our painful, burning crying, and looking up, I stared into a pair of gentle violet eyes.

"Oh! Uh…Yugi! Didn't expect you to…uh…come here," I finished lamely, sniffling and clearing my throat. Rex quickly tried to compose himself, but the redness of his nose and the watery look of his eyes were dead giveaways. I didn't bother hiding my tears—Yugi had already seen them, many times.

He knelt beside us, and I could feel the peace and compassion that radiated from him. Even though he was one of my bitterest rivals, I somehow felt better just being in his presence. It was completely out of my nature to change my views of other people once I had my impressions, but…this was different.

"How long have you been here?" Yugi asked quietly.

"Just a few…a few minutes," Rex said, wiping the remnant of a tear away with the back of his hand. "Joey defeated me, and then the pharaoh defeated Weevil."

"And I feel worse than bug guts on a windshield," I said sardonically. A little laugh started up in my chest at my ironic humor, but the laughter hurt my chest, and I winced. Yugi looked at me with concern, and noticed the slashes across my front.

"Weevil…did Yami do that to you?" he asked. At first, I wondered who "Yami" was, but then I realized it must have been Yugi's name for the pharaoh. But who would have thought it—the kid actually cared about me? Stunned, I paused a second, then answered his question quietly.

"Yeah…in the duel."

"I'm sorry," he said, and somehow, he seemed completely genuine. "Yami does tend to get a little…um…overzealous at times," he added, with a nervous laugh.

"He was angry with me. And I know why." My voice was matter-of-fact.

Yugi nodded wisely. "I know why, too." A silence lapsed between the three of us for a minute, and then Rex spoke again.

"I guess I shouldn't be pissed about losing," he said slowly. "But…me and Weevil are duelists, too. Uh…if that makes any sense," he finished, laughing a little at himself.

When Yugi wordlessly expressed his confusion with furrowed brows, I tried to explain it. "Well…we did a lot of stupid stuff to you guys, but it was just because we wanted what you and the pharaoh and Joey already had."

"We wanted what you took from us when you defeated us," Rex said, and I could see new tears starting to glimmer in his eyes. He blinked rapidly, trying to maintain his composure.

"What we took from you?" Yugi looked bewildered. "We didn't steal anything from you."

"Our lifestyles," Rex said flatly. "We lived like winners until you came along. Then we became nothing. Then…we became losers."

Yugi's response was a simple shrug. "So? We're all losers at some point. Yami lost, as you did, Rex. Same as when you lost, Weevil. Losing doesn't feel good to anybody."

"Well, duh," Rex said, rolling his eyes, "but you and Joey never went through what we did. We got thrown aside when you guys came on the scene. It was like nobody gave a fuck about us once we weren't winning anymore. People beat us up—" His voice broke, and he drew in a long, shaky breath, struggling with the words in his mind and the truth in his heart. "Life…life has just sucked since I stopped winning, and…and I can't seem to make it right again. It's like I don't matter."

"That's why we wanted to win so bad," I added, my voice starting to choke up. "I'm just—I'm just so sick of feeling worthless." A sudden flood of sadness swept over me as I said it. "You and all the other duelists don't understand. Be glad that you don't."

By this time, Yugi's eyes were full of empathetic pain and compassionate tears. "Gosh...I never knew you guys felt that way about it," he said softly.

"That's because you didn't bother to listen." Rex's words were sharply bitter, with a blatant undertone of anger. "You just wanted to beat us because we were geeky and nerdy and annoying and not worth 'real duelists' time.' Nothing else mattered. Not in Duelist Kingdom, not in Battle City, and certainly not now."

The silence after Rex's pronouncement was deafening, as Yugi took in his words and nodded slowly, seeming to be deep in thought. After a few minutes, he spoke again, softly.

"Well," he said gently, "did you ever think it was something you could change?"

"Change?" I asked.

"Well…the thing is," he said, leaning in towards us and speaking quietly, "you two aren't known for your graciousness in winning, if you know what I mean." He chuckled, somewhat nervously. "I probably shouldn't be so blunt about it, but you have to realize that your behavior makes people react the way they do. You both are always so…well, for lack of a better word, mean to the duelists you face."

He paused. "I know that sounds harsh. But…when I played you, Weevil, I felt like I was constantly getting put down and made fun of, just because you thought you had the upper hand…and when I watched Joey duel you, Rex, I couldn't believe how you made him second-guess himself."

Yugi's shoulders sagged with his deep sigh. "I guess what I'm trying to say is that when you act that way…you make people think that you don't need anybody else, and that you are perfectly happy the way you are. I—I mean, I would never have figured that you were sad and angry over something as common and normal as losing. Sure, it's upsetting, but---"

"But when your winner status is all you have in life, it hurts more to lose it," Rex returned.

"Hmm…what do you mean by that?" Yugi asked.

"When you don't have anything to make your life bright except for winning at everything," I said, trying to explain further, "losing is…not good."

"It's the reason I drink myself to sleep every night," Rex added, biting his lip. "I can't stand how people look at me now…I just know they're thinking 'Well, well, how the mighty have fallen."

"Anything you can do to forget your failures…you do," I said quietly.

Yugi sighed. "Well…I'm sorry for any part I may have played in this. You're right, you're duelists too, and nobody should lose sight of that. But you have to remember how you feel when losing all the time—so you don't accidentally treat someone else like that." He paused. "Do you remember how you treated your opponents when you were Regional Champions? Do you remember the attitude you had when you came onto the field, the way that you talked down to them, the way you cheered for yourself when it was over?"

"Well…yeah, 'cause we were happy," I said. What was Yugi getting at?

"But is it so impossible to imagine that the people you beat felt the way you do now?" Yugi asked, with a touch of persuasive logic in his voice.

Something started to click in my mind, but Rex spoke before I did. "You mean, we made 'em feel…worthless?"

"That's exactly what I mean," Yugi said, gently but firmly. "In other words, your defeats may have simply been part of your karma."

"Karma?" I scoffed. "That New-Agey belief about reincarnation and all that?"

"No, not completely," Yugi said, laughing a little. "Karma can basically be summed up in the old phrase 'What goes around comes around.' Basically, if you're mean to someone, later someone else is going to be mean to you. And if you're kind to someone, later on someone else is going to be kind to you."

"But what the hell does that have to do with our losing?" Rex asked.

"Simple," Yugi replied. "You made others feel bad after losing to you…and then you started to lose. Then you felt bad. Your bad karma regenerated itself in your lives." He smiled gently, wisely. "I know that you both can't always act the way you should. Everyone's human, and everyone goes through periods of bad luck and worse situations. The thing is, you can turn it around if you want to, simply by being good to others." He got up slowly and seemed about to leave, then he paused and turned around.

"Don't feel worthless for too long, guys. Just remember how you feel now, and try never to make others feel the same." Then Yugi walked away and disappeared, leaving me and Rex by ourselves again.

"So…we shouldn't be angry after all?" I said dejectedly. Rex shook his head.

"Nope…I guess we screwed ourselves over this time." He sniffled again. "Guess the kid's right—we're just human."

And from another holding zone, Yugi's spirit watched the great Rex Raptor and the great Weevil Underwood, starting to cry again, but this time with relief—supporting each other as only close friends could do. The other trapped spirits, who had previously mocked the two duelists, now stood in silence, almost in reverence at the touching vulnerability and wounded humanity that had emerged from them in their brief dialogue with Yugi.

"I've done about all I can do," Yugi whispered, as if speaking to someone else, someone no one else could see. "Now…it's up to them to make things right."

He turned from the poignant scene and walked back through the crowd of spirits, and they parted to let him pass, with looks of awe and chagrin on their faces. They knew now that Yugi had done what was right and what was fair to Weevil and Rex, and in doing so, he had shown that even the people they hated had their own pain and suffering, and were still human at their core.


End file.
